If you find yourself up to your eyeballs in debt, than you might have come across this book title looking for an answer. If you have read the first few posts of my blog you would know that I am in way to much debt myself. So I have written this review from the perspective of someone that needs help getting out of debt.

The big idea of this book is to get out of debt by applying $10.00 a day to an $8,000.00 credit card debt with a 16% interest rate in about 33 months. How does one do that? This book give you steps that if followed will do just that, according to the author.

Step 1 “Assess the Problem”. This step instructs you to figure out exactly how you got into this debt with the idea that you need to find out your habits before you change them. To complete this step you will also need to know who you owe money to and how much.

Step 2 “Break Your Challenge into Manageable Steps”. She explains that you don’t need to pay debt management programs to help you clear you debt. And talks about getting a lower interest rate, which will be necessary to meet your goal.

Step 3 “Know and Manage Your Credit Score”. Any good get out of debt book will tell you to get your credit report and score, it is that important. Many people that need to make decisions about you, will use your credit score. This book puts a very large emphasis on this point. To complete this step, it will be necessary to get your score. Jean Chatzky gives a wonderful explanation of how your score is made. For instance; only 35% of the score is based on how you pay your bills.

Step 4 “Track Your Spending”. In this step the author explains “By not paying off our credit cards, we’re living on borrowed money. By not saving we’re living on borrowed time.” So to do this step you will need to track every penny that comes in and goes out. I have read the same advice of tracking your money in quite a few books about personal finances.

Step 5 “Find the Money”. The point of this step is to find anywhere that you can cut something out of your expenses to find enough money to free up the $10.00 a day. This step also talks about how to lower your interest rates, refinance your car loan, and get a better mortgage.

Step 6 “Find the Money: Consolidating Your Debts”. It seams that consolidating your debt will turn an unsecured debt into a secured debt because you will need to borrow form your house, in return you will get to pay off that debt at a much lower interest rate. She warns against the possibility of charging those cards up again. There is also an explanation of what kinds of loans you could get to do this.

Step 7 “Find the Money: Spending Less”. This may seem simple, but if it was that simple would most of us have this debt in the first place? This step goes over why we spend too much money and has you evaluating your spending list. It also talks about selling off assets and making more money.

Step 9 “Pay it Down-Intelligently”. It seems that all of the debt gurus have a formula of which debt to pay off first. I have read many different ways to choose, hers is to pay the one with the highest interest rate first.

What to do when things go wrong. There is a lot of information about what to do if you go though all of the steps, but you just can’t get the $10.00 a day to pay off your debt. This book recommends getting credit counseling or getting a debt management program, because they can get you a good deal with your creditors, you will give them one payment electronically, and they will use your payment to pay the creditors. You will end up paying the service a fee up front and then a monthly fee until you are done.

As far as aggressive debt collectors go, this is what she has to say “You don’t have to talk to a debt collector. And you don’t have to return their calls.” If you feel that you are being abused by these collectors there is information in this book that will help.

The end of the book consists of “The Debt Diet”. This is just some good rules to live by that will help you spend less money on unnecessary things so that you can get though your debt elimination.

Would I recommend This Book?

This is what I would tell a friend if asked if I would recommend "Pay It Down". This would be a good book for people that haven’t ruined their credit yet, and it contains sound advice for changing your financial habits. I also like the “do it yourself” attitude that is in the steps. On the other hand, Pay it Down is best for people that have a decent income and not a lot of debt. This book is also a bit out dated. With the increase of the monthly minimums that credit card companies hit us with not long ago, $10.00 a day would in no way be enough to cover just the minimums. Unlike other books about getting rid of credit card debt that I have read, this one does not fill me with hope for my future. I find Pay it Down a bit pessimistic for my taste. So, although this is a good book I would not recommend it to anyone that is having real financial problems.

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Before starting a credit card debt elimination plan it is absolutely mandatory to take stock of what your debt really looks like. This basically means "lets get real about what we owe and to who exactly we owe it to".

Here is my situation

I will divulge this so that as you follow along in my debt elimination journey you will know where I started and how this information will help you get rid of all of your nasty debt. So here is my ugly truth.

      1.   Credit card 1 =         12,000.00

      2.   Credit card 2 =              250.00

      3.   Cell phone =                   600.00

      4.   Miscellaneous debt = 1,200.00

This list has been written on a post it note and stuck to my desk for several reasons.

1.  A strong reminder of what needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.

2.  I will get the joy of crossing items off of my list as that debt is eliminated.

3.  Will hopefully inspire a change of our spending habits.

If you are trying to eliminate all of your bad debt as soon as possible then writing everything down and displaying it where you will see it daily is a powerful tool. Haven’t you ever seen a debt guru on a talk show bring out a chart to demonstrate a families debt? There is a reason for this. It really helps you put it all in perspective. You can see this as a puzzle that needs to be salved. I would not recommend emotionalizing what you see too much. There is a time of “morning” when you realize just how much in a financial hole you are. I went though this myself for about a week and a half. At a point that I didn’t know how we could possibly get normal again, I decided it is time to stop whining about poor me and start finding solutions the problem, work though it, and get on with our life. Write your nasty truth down and start figuring out how to solve your puzzle.

I realize that most people would look at my debt and wonder why it is such a big deal. It is only around 14,000.00. So many people are in over there heads in the hundred of thousands of dollars range of unsecured debt. So why is this seemingly small debt such a big deal? We are a family of five that only brings in about 30,000.00 a year in a place that has a fairly high cost of living. So 14,000.00 in debt is like 100,000.00 in debt to people with a higher income.

As with most problems we find our selves in, especially the ones that we ourselves create, there is a way of getting out of it. And the reason for this site is to find them and share what I find with anyone interested in knowing for them selves.

As this blog progresses so will our shrinking debt.

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I must be honest; I have paid down my own credit card debt to nothing at least two times so far. Because I find myself over my head in debt once again it seems that what is said about “old habits dying hard” is true. It is time to get out of all unsecured debt once and for all. New habits will need to be obtained to insure that we are never in this situation again. As I am positive that I am not in this mess alone, I will share this journey to a new financial life with all of you.

This time I am going to do this right, and to ensure that I will do my research. Expect to find several book reviews for books that promise to give the secrets of getting out of credit card debt and staying out in the article section of this site. After a good number of books on the subject are absorbed then expect to find a weekly update to what I am personally doing to get rid of my debt and what the results are.

Why am I going to share this? Too many of us are over our heads in credit card debt. When you owe someone else then your life is not your own. Lets all take our lives back.

I invite you to add your useful comments about your own experience to each page and post.

Visit at least once a week to find out what is new and welcome to your new financial future.

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